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A D D R E S S, 






DELIVERED BE^RE THE CIT^ENS OF BECKET 

M^s. January 18, .1839. • 

T ^ ^ > 

Upon thiB ISubject of Slavery, 



By JOSEPH STURGES. 



IN WHICH IS BRIEFLY CONSIDERED, 



1. The fallacy of all attempts made or to be made by the 

Abolitionists of the Non-Slaveholding States, to secure 
immediate Abolition. 

2. The powers of Congress in relation thereto. 

3. To show the infinitely jvorse situation in which those in 

whose behalf they c^e made are or will be placed by 
them. I 

4. The evils to which thei' must necessarily give birth, 

5. A correct and general description of the treatment of the 

Slave, together with a picture of the Free Coloured 
Population. 



Hrr: 

PRINTBD BY E. J. BULL. 

1839. 



<f^w7 



^ ADDRESS. 

Difficult as is at all times and under any circumstances the 
task of a public speaker, doubly so is it rendered when he feels 
he is addressinor an audience a large majority of which entertain 
sentiments and opinions directly at variance with his own ; but 
believing these sentiments and opinions to be founded in error, 
error^ising not only from the want of personal observation, but 

in many instances IVOIU the mioicprcoontutionc of the wilful, ilie 

wicked, tiie ignorant and the designing, no apology will, he 
presumes be required for soliciting your attention to the re- 
marks he is about to offer. 

Though but little acted upon, it is nevertheless a maxim, the 
goodness of which will not be disputed, that all subjects, whether 
of a moral or political nature, leading to intense excitement and 
calculated to prejudice one portion of the community against 
another, although the ends in view be alike easy of attainment 
and their results certain of proving beneficial, should not only be 
approached with circumspection but treated with the utmost 
delicacy ; in what terms then am 1 to speak, in what light am I 
to regard the efforts of those, who, casting reason aside and 
shutting their eyes to the consequences that must inevitably 
ensue from a persistence in the course they have been pursuing, 
madly rush forward with increased and with increasing energy 
to the support of schemes dangerous as the reptile's sting; vis- 
ionary as human happiness, and as completely beyond their 
power to accomplish as was the scaling the ramparts of iiigh 
Heaven by the projectors and builders of'Babel's lofty tower? 

It is my purpose upon the present occasion in addition to more 
general observations, first in as brief a manner as the subject, 
will admit, to expose the fallacy of all attempts made or to be 
made by the abolitionists of the non-Slave holding States to se- 
cure immediate emancipation and in so doing argue the right of 
interference and the power of Congress in relation thereto ; 
second, to show the infinitely worse situation in which those in 
whose behalf they are made are or will be placed by them; 
third, the evils to vv'hich they must necessarily give birth, and 
fourth, by a correct description of the general condition and 
treatment of the Slave together with a picture of the free col- 
oured population, prove beyond dispute that pure philanthropy 
disclaims all interference with the matter. I am aware to treat 
this subject as it merits and as justice demands, requires talents 
of a higher order than any I pretend to possess, but, coming 
from that section of the country where Slavery exists, I should 



be deaf to the voice of honour could I remain silent when false- 
hood and misrepresentation are running riot through our land ; 
when our feelings are outraged, our characters trampled under 
foot; when our rights are invaded and even our beloved Union 
threatened with dissolution, [t is to correct those calumnies ; 
repel those outrages ; protect that character ; uphold those rights 
and preserve the flag of our country under which we have tri- 
umphed amid dangers and difficulties, waving its ample folds for 
ages to come over this yet united land my feeble voice is raised. 

With these views and with this exposition of my motives, 
I approach my subject, and should I fail in rendering tenable, 
nay impregnable, the citadel I have founded, to my unskill- 
fulness in putting them together, and not to the want of ample 
and substantial materials will it be owing. 

In nnnO^rmity t^'Uu tho c};-.-;ci;on I have luaae, I will in the first 
place proceed to consider the fallacy of all attempts at immedi- 
ate emancipation, the rights of interference and the powers of 
Congress ; in so doing, I may perhaps take a wider range than 
is anticipated, but as the point to be established is an important 
one, too much attention cannot be bestowed upon it ; I say the 
point to be established is an important one, since I am persua- 
ded if I succeed, it will be the means of inducing many who, 
by suffering their feelings to get the better of their reason, have 
hitherto been deluded into a belief that they had but to loill and 
it was done, to abandon a project alike dangerous in its nature 
and hopeless in its attainment; 'tis true there are some who, 
influenced, I will not say by bad but certainly by mistaken no- 
tions, have steeled their minds against conviction, but I have 
greatly erred in forming my opinion of this audience if such con- 
stitute not but a very small portion of them. 

What are the measures heretofore resorted to, what are the 
measures yet in contemplation by the Abolitionists to effect their 
purposes, are questions which I feel myself called upon to an- 
swer in order to discuss this subject in an appropriate manner ; 
I say then they are by public lectures; by newspaper essays; 
by memorials to Congress ; would to God I could slop here, but 
truth and justice compel me also to declare they are by the cir- 
culation among us of pamphlets, tracts, and various other devi- 
ces calculated, as much from the manner in which they are got 
up as from the matter they contain, to excite the Slaves to insur- 
rection and by the appointment of secret Agents, or at least an 
approval and support of the nefarious acts of those assuming 
that capacity, whose efforts are productive of the same ends. 

That public Lectures and newspaper Essays, when exercised 
upon legitimate subjects and by those too not only conversant 
with them but who also feel disposed to let truth predominate 
are well calculated to enlighten the minds of their hearers and 
readers and pro luce beneficial results, will not admit of a doubt, 
yet are they inexpedient; unjustifiable and deserving the 



strongest reprehetiNion when their authors presume not only to 
meddle with that which concerns not them, neither those they 
are addressing, but deviating from t}ie good old path whicii 
honor and honesty point out, seek by fai-seliood and exaggera- 
tion to guide tiieir hobby into the broad current of pi)pular 
favour and by wantonly exciting sectional feeliny; sectional 
jealousy; sectional prejudice and sectional sympathy, raise a 
storm vviiich all the eliorts of their after lives can never allay 
and inflict evils upon themselves; their neighbors and posterity 
only commensurate with those they are emailing ujjon the bemgs 
for whom they pro/ess to U?el so much commiseration and in 
whose behallthey would lead the world to believe they are so 
strenuously laboring ; but as further observations upon these 

tnGasures: urn] tlip r-nnsprinenoos; thoy invi^K'o r.,>mo i.ot -vvithin 

the scope of my present immediate purpose and as it is my in- 
tention to notice both them and others more fully in their proper 
place, I shall at this stage ol my address dismiss them without 
other remark aiiid proceed directly to one point at issue. 

Jt is a fiict conceded I believe by all abolitionists, and one that 
must be apparent to every other person who has noticed their 
proceedings, that without the assistance of Congress, so lar as 
the action ot the non-Slaveholding States is concerned, their 
course has but little to hope l()r, consequently the numerous me- 
morials that are from time to time ])rcsented ; this naturally 
leads us to an inquiry into the powers of that botly and the right 
they possess of interfering in the matter. Justice to myself here 
demands me to be explicit in stating, and I wish it to be dis- 
tinctly understood, that in what I have already said and in 
what I am about to say, I make no war upon the use ol the legal; 
legitimate ; constitutional privileges of any individual or body ot 
individuals ; it is the abuse of them against w hich I rebel ; it is 
not against the liberty ol speech or of the press I contend; but 
it is their unparalleled licentiousness upon this topic I denounce ; 
it is not the right of petition I assail; but it is the pressing that 
right to the manliest danger and injury of the country at large 
and the Southern members of this Confederacy in particular, I 
deprecate, and believing as I do, such will, such must, nay such 
has already been their result, I may well be permitied to question 
the policy ; the moral right or the wisdom ol hurling theminto the 
great theatre of action ;' but to return to the powers of Congress. 
Those at all conversant with the history of our country immediate- 
ly subsequent to the great events that made us a nation, cannot 
be ignorant of the fact that one of the greatest difficulties vvehad 
to encounter was the settling the extent of i)ower to be conferred 
upon the confederated government; while some advocated the 
doctrine that it was the duty and the interest of the several 
States to yield up all general rights and place themselves un- 
qualifiedly under its protection, others very wisely and as stren- 
uously contended for the reservation of some lor themselves, be- 

a3 



6 

lieving Ihey would be safer in their own hands; they were 
willing 10 confer upon it strength to sustain itself, but not suffi- 
cient (if ever so disposed) to break down every barrier raised 
against its encroachment; they were willing to afford it ample 
nourishment, but not sufficient to satisfy the cravings of an inor- 
dinate appetite and create a famine among themselves. 

From the various conflicting interests which at tl)at early day 
tlirew obstacles in their path, the framers of our Constitution 
were enabled to see the injurious effects a consolidated form of 
government would produce; hence thejireat and laboring anx- 
iety manifested by those in favour of one purely democratic to 
guard against it; systems were in active operation under the 
auspecies of State legislation over which they deemed it inadvi- 
sable to give lIlC JJUVVCl uf ullici intcrCorcnoo, tKoy tltlCW the 

time would come when sectional difference of opinion in regard 
to interests and systems would as a matter of course arise, which, 
if left to the action of Congress, would have a tendency to em. 
broil the members of that body in strife and endanger its pro- 
ceedings in turmoil and confusion to the jjreat detriment of the 
general affairs of the country and to the delight of the enemies 
of freedom throughout the habitable globe. Aware also that 
self and ambition are the predominant passions that swell every 
bosom and direct the impulses of every mind, if needed not the 
gift of inspiration to foretell nor the ken of prophecy to foresee 
that after the excitement of mutual warm and kmdiy feelings 
enkindled by common danger and common success had passed 
away with the occasion which produced them, mistrust ; mis- 
conception; jealousy and envy would occupy their place, and as 
the coldness of the climate and the sterility of the soil would pre- 
vent the northern states from employing slave labor to advatage 
consequently from holding any of tliat species of property, I say it 
required not the gift of inspiration to ioretel nor the ken of pro- 
phecy to foresee that this, if suffered to pass out of their own 
hands, would become the football of every aspirant to over- 
strained morality and prove the great bone of contgiition in all 
future legislation. 

There was no subject perliaps thai occupied the attention of 
that convention and was more thorouehly discussed than was 
that of Slavery ; and whatever might have been their general 
or individual opinions in regard to the political or moral nature 
of the foreign Slave trade, ihey almost unanimousK^ agreed that 
domestic Slavery was at least a civil instilntion so particularly 
affecting the rights of property, that its abolition by other means 
than that of voluntary surrender, would not only be productive 
of injuryand injustice, but would at the very outset of our career 
at once demolish one of the fundamental ]M-inciples, for the es- 
tablishment of which we had just passed through a sanguinary 
and arduous seven long years contention ; to guard against all 
interference on the part of those who (whether in the walks of 
private life or in the Halls of Legislation) make it a point to pry 



into and meddle with the business of others to the great detri- 
ment ot their own, as well as to wreak their abhorrence of all 
acts having a tendency to unite church and state, a connexion 
that has proved the bane of every country in which it has taken 
place, they were peculiarly circumspect in designating in the 
Constitution they were framing, the powers tobe conferred; the 
action of the several parties to this conl(?deration has made that 
Constitution the law of the land and no alteration or amendment 
affecting even in the remotest degree the rights not conceded, 
can be made xeithout the common consent of all immediately in- 
terested, without stepping beyond the landmarks of that Instru- 
ment and openly ; barefacedly and shamif idly violating its pro- 
visions and every pledge of security it contains. One of the most 
prominent rights thus reserved bv the States is that of managmg 
their own domestic concerns, of which in son!e. Slavery lorms a 
component part; to Congress is given th.e power of declaring 
War; making Peace; executing- TTrea ties ; regulating Duties; 
collectinsH-evenue; raising Armies ; building Navies; erecting 
Fortifications, &c., all of which are clearly defined, but I defy 
the greatest champion in the ranks oi Anti-Slavery to lay his 
hand upon ^ paragraph, nay a single v\ord that can by the most 
tortuous stretch of definition, be made to convey the idea that 
they possess the power or the risht to exercise a system of pure- 
ly partial legislation or to take away property without consent or 
compensation, whether that property be houses; lands; cattle 
or Slaves, for (to use the language of a somewhat humourous 
Poet) 

Optics sharp, i( needs, I ween, 

To see (hiug^slhal are not lo be seen. 

If then Congress possess not the power by our«Constitutional 
compact of interlering with the question of Domestic Slavery, 
does it not follow as a matter of consequence, that all applica- 
tions to its members in their different capacity, must prove nu- 
gatory and useless, unless indeed they can be operated upon to 
assume a power that belongs not to them, and I may be permit- 
ted to say, from my knowledge of Southern sentimentand Soutli- 
ern character, that such an assumption would be resisted not 
only by argument and remonstrance but if necessary (Avhich may 
God avert) by a people's last resort against domestic as well as 
foreign tyranny; any attempt at consolidation; any attacks 
upon the reserved rights of the States; any intermeddling with 
their legitimate concerns, ougiit to be ; must be ; will he met by 
the united strength of all who value this Republic ; by the united 
energies ol all who would prevent this lair fabric from crumbling 
into dust or becoming a heap of mouldering ruins. 

With a view of shewing how far Cong-ress has countenanced 
Abolitionism, and what aid its supporters may calculate upon 
receiving from it, let us for a moment examine what disposition 
their petitions and memorials have uniformly received. [1 am not 



k 



8 

unapprised tliat but few have latterly been presented iorthe ? 
olition of Slavery ill the Slates, other than for the siippressior 
the trade between them, and thosp kw have very properly be 
consigned, with but little or no remark " to the tomb ol 
the Capulets," there to remain '' unwept ; unhonoured and i 
sung" save by a few, who, to accomplish their purposes whet' 
of good or of evil, would storm Heaven itself if it stood in th 
way, though all its artillery were pointed at their breasts; 
clamorous and importunate have they at length become, that 
of whatever character they may be immediately receive, at t 
hands of the Representatives of the Nation, their effecti 
quietus. 

If further proof be wanting to shew ihe absence of all right 

tlipir part^ (qc tlio rmnlfsj .nf nn nrlrlreSS will not pprniit. nie 

quote from them,) I will refer you totiie debates that took plac 
particularly to that in the Senate, upon the a])i)licntion of M 
souri for admission into the Union ; debates which lor logic 
reasoning; depth ol" argument and constitutional expositio 
were never surpassed in that or any other body; and what w 
the decision at which they arrived in tliat case? that, they n 
only did not possess the power of interfering with the questi( 
of Domestic Slavery in the States then in the Confl^deracy, bi ™ 
that they were bound by obligations paramount to all other coi 
siJerations involved, to grant her admission upon the tern 
required in her application, viz. that of being placed upon a 
equal footintj with the others, consequently the right of becon 
ing a Slaveholding State as she had hitherto been a Territory 
More recently two new states have been added (one of eac 
class) with hut little argument upon this intemperate subject. 

Suppose my hearers liie Slave holding States were to assert 
right in Conijress and j)etition thcni to exercise that right t 
prevent the admission of any other State into the Union, whic 
would not consent to recognize and adopt the s\'slem of Slaver;^ 
would it not be the universal cry of the others (and a just on 
too) that they were tramplijig the Constitution under their feet 
•that they were usurping powers utterly at war and bringini 
them into direct collision with one of the most essential right; 
reserved Ity the states for their individual supervision : that the^ 
were establishing principles immediately repugnant to all pre- 
conceived notions of Republican government and that thej 
might as well in all save the name, be the degraded serfs of lh( 
Autocrat of all the Russias .^ and yet this is the very state ol 
things the abolitionists are endeavoring to bring about; this 
disregard to our hitherto common guide ; this flagrant breach oi 
compact ; the subversion of the spirit in which the affairs oi 
our country have been so happily conducted, they are urging 
with zeal ; witli a determination worthy of a better cause. 
By persevering in it they may succeed in dissolving the Union ; 
they may succeed in promoting civil strife ; they may succeed in 
deluging this fair land in blood; they may succeed in tearing to 



atters or placing their patchwork upon the garment of our po- 
itical faith, but never will they succeed in forcing into their 
neasures a people who ''know their rights, and kn'owing dare 
aaincain them." 

But say the Abolitionists as Congress is the legitimate Legis- 
itureof the District of Columbia, in our applications to them 
)r its suppression there, we certainly stand upon undisputed 
■round as it regards our Constitutional rinrhts to ask, and their's 
3 grant it. 'Tis true, the states of Maryland and Virginia 
eded, but for the sole purpose of national convenience, that 
ortion ori|ieir territory to the United States, and as a matter of 
ourse to trie United States belongs the jurisdiction; but does 
ny one suppose, or do their acts of cession shew, that they in- 
Mided or contemplated thesurrenderof any thinn; affl^ftinf? "their 
iterests as States, other tlian that of parting with their lands? 
pr was it so understood ; expected or dreainpt of by the accep- 
)r, nay the common law of those States has ever been and is at 
le present day the law under which justice is administered and 
roperty is protected; and I would ask would it not have been 
|ie very acme of consummate folly and a suicidal disregard of 
|hatwasdue to themselves as well as those transferred, had 
(ley left it at the disposal of any other tribunal than that of their 
vn free will, to establish upon their very borders a receptacle 
which the base and disalFected of all cok)rs would repair and 
ove a continual source ol irritation and disquietude? 
Those states at the time of this cession were Slave holding 
ates ; those states are yet Slare holding states, and until they 
ve up and abandon the Institution of Slavery, Conprress can- 
it, (in strict justice to them,) abrogate it in liie district of Co- 
mbia ; without the consent of the people of that District they 
ve no more right to abolish it there tlian they have in Ma- 
land or Virginia, and (he consent of that people would form 
e only legal, the only Constitutional right, and the only plea 
jurisdiction they could jjresent to those States for the exercise 
that power while Slavery was recoi^nized as a part of their 
rnestic system. So also with the Territories, when theij shall 
11 upon Congress, the body forming their legislative fimctions, 
banish Slavery from among them, then and not till then may 
^y do so without an assumption of power; without a violation 
Territorial rights, and all attempts to influence that body in 
ation to the internal policy of the Territories or the District of 
'lumbia by other than their own inhabitants are direct attacks 
on the rights of those people, and manifest a disposition to 
;rifice the peace and happiness of the comnumity at large, at 
; mere ipse dixit of a lew self-constituted expounders of mor 
ity. 

Many, my hearers, might be led to suppose from the ^enor of 
ne of the observations in common use with the Abolitionists, 
lit the slave-holding states had assumed and were arrogating 
themselves under the constitution rights and privileges from 



10 

which the free states are excluded ; but is it so? it is not. Th^ 
ri"-ht of holding slaves ; the right of regulating its own domestic 
concerns; tlie right of fixing and managing its own internal 
policy are rights reserved and held by Massachusetts as well- as 
by Maryland ; by Connecticut as well as by Virginia; by New 
Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island and New York as well as 
by North and South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee and so on 
to the entl of the chapter ; but many of these states having after 
a time voluntarily abandoned that in relation to Slavery, whether 
through interest, leeling or principle, is neither a valid argument 
nor a solid reason why others who view its exercise \jg^ a differ- 
ent light and choose to retain it, sliould be deprived of it, nor 
does it afford a single particle of proof that they l)y so doing 
possess a Ip^al or constitutional privileije to interfere either di- 
rectly or indirectly with any course they (the Slave holding 
States, Territories, or Districts) may think proper to pursue in 
relation to it. 

I am aware there are some who, ignorant of the principles of 
our government, or hostile to the spirit in which it was con- 
ceiv^ed, and has hitherto been so successfully supported, attempt 
to answer or set aside all constitutional arsruments upon this 
subject by ridicule; thus inculcating (so far as their influence 
extends) a contempt of the provisions of that Instrument, and a 
virtual recommendat^ion to pass beyond its landmarks, whenever 
prompted so to do by wilfully wrong or at best misconceived 
notions of religious duty; "the greatest good of the greatest 
number," the most benevolent and comprehensive axiom of both 
moral and political economy, is by the magic wand of Aboli- 
tionism to be unceremoniously thrust from the place it has so 
long held in our affections to make room for the contracted, 
narrow-mincied policy of justice (if so strong a term be insisted 
upon) to the lew at the expense of and by acts of the grossest 
injustice to the many. 

Construing then, in the way I have attempted to show (as do 
the people of that section of the country to which I have the 
honor to belong) our original compact, and justified as they are 
in that construction by the plain language oi the document itself, 
a compact tlie good faith of wiiich (if we are to remain united) 
must be preserved inviolate, is it to be wondered at that the con- 
stant outrageous and insulting attempts both out of and in the 
councils of the nation to scale the ramparts thus thrown up for 
the protection of all, should at times have given rise to warm and 
angry debates which, instead of producing any beneficial results 
toThise professedly designed to be benefitted, have only been the 
means of^rivetting their chains still stronger; of creating an ex- 
citement for which history scarcely affords a parallel and of in- 
terrupting the feelings of harmony, brotherly love, and charity 
towards each other's" foibles which "should and did exist between 
the difierent members of this Confederacy, until soirie, (wise 
in their own conceit and affecting a degree of Godliness and 



11 



inorality superior to their iieiglibors) discovered they should iaW 
in rendermc^due homage to their Creator did they not erao-eln 
a crusade apmst the property of their fellow men, and slneldL" 
themselves behmd the bulwarks ot^ religion, let fly theZsoneS 
arrows ol ma hoe and detraction ngainsl all who ac ed or even 
dared to think other thnn themseh^s ? 

The prompt, efficient and energetic refusal of Congress to act 
upon their petitions and memorials in a manner suited tomee 
he views of (hese would-be philanthropists, plainly Jk.ws "ha 
heir hopes of assistance from that quarter a e wiihou founda- 
tion ; It also indicates .heir consciousness of possessing no riffh?- 
no authority; 110 desire to participate in tllis unw>e, mXd 
for quixotic expedition; nor is the right of petition in the least 
degree impaired by their recent decision, rnHwiU st^nd nV the 
howlinc. lamentations that l.nvp heen n.aJc onj ,1,. n nn>croc! 
od.le tears that have been shed; for the right of pe itnmin; a 
body upon a subjectover winch it has no ccTntrol ; If olic tfn^ 
an interference from which both by law and justice it is eW 
ded; ,s in uselt a nullity, consequently void of all existence 
Such being the facts, is not one of the main props upon which 
he Abolitionists have leaned for snppiMt removed fi'um under 
them ? and do they not go far to establish the fallacy of Til the?r 
expectations of obtaining immediate or even (by these mean^^ 
perspective emancipation ? and do thev not moreover offer one 
good reason at least, why tfiey should'desist from their a..ha! 
ting, disorganizing schemes? we have heart-burninos and^ea'- 
ousies enouirh in all conscience, existing among us, Trrowin/ou't 
of matters strictly constitusional and vvithin their control with- 
out urging upon Congress any either wholly denied them or even 
of a doubtful character. 

i>.iVn'^''^T'",f '" ^«'»t''«'i t^'« fi'-«t position f assumed, viz • 
he fallacy of all attempts at immediate emancipation, I have 
largely (as I promised I would) scanned the powers of Congress 
and argued m opposition to any political right of interfer'ence 
claimed by the people of tlie non-Slaveholding States- I St 
tis true have waived all this nnd contented myself wi'th simllv 
stating the course ordinarily pursued by Congress up<,n Abolj^ 
ion petitions and memorials praying their aci-on, Itavin.. to you 
the drawing of the trround work upon which they based their 
decisions, but embracing as it does a claim aiming'a vitalstabat 
our dear bought rights; a claim, which, if not T.urcessfullv re- 
sisted or does not soon cease to be pressed wili stretch every 
chord o this Union to iis utmost tension, 1 could not rest satis- 
tied til I had probed its injustice to the verv bottom 

1 wil now tuither say, neither do they possess any moral rifrhf 
nor IS the holding of Slaves inconsistent with our LTv eithe? to 
Uod or man; it ,s not my intention upon the preseiit occasion 
and (even were I so disposed) time wonid nor permit me to enter 
upon a discussion of the ahstiact question of Slavery with either 
justice to mys,elf or tlie subject, nor do I conceive it'at all neces. 



12 

sary to establish the positions with which I set out ; I may how- 
ever (to sustain these assertions) though foreign to my first pur- 
pose, be permitted briefly to revert to the sanction the system 
receives from custom and from precedent throughout the various 
stages of the world, particularly its existence among- the primi- 
tive Christians under the immediate eye oi', and without rebuke 
from, the blessed Saviour himself; I might point out to you 
many passages of Scrijiture written under the Old and New 
dispensations directly tending to uphold it; I might tell you that 
among the duties enjoined by it upon various portions of man- 
kind, that of" Slaves obey your Masters," is not forgotten ; and 
were I disposed to follow the examples of its 'opponents and 
wander into the fields of speculation and of fancy I might go on 
and argue, that as the great Creator of the Universe stamped 

them with a colour and with fctxt«roe d;flor«>n» from our own, a 

colour ever used by us, when applied to actions, to denote their 
baseness and turpitude; features closely resembling those of a 
certain species of the brute, he thus degraded them as a pun- 
ishment for some flagrant breach of his laws; some outrageous 
rebellion against his decrees, and deterniined, until their offences 
were expiated they slioiild become and remain " hewers of wood 
and drawers of water" for those upon whom hip seal of reproba- 
tion had not been so signally fijced ; why he has so done is per- 
haps one of the mysteries of divine providence hidden from our 
knowledge for its own best known and Avise&t purposes, to seek 
to penetrate which at present nothing warrants nor does inclina- 
tion prompt me ; suffice it upon this point to say, drawing their 
ideas of morality and their sense of lieavenly obligation from the 
selfsame sacred source we have among us who, under the cir- 
cumstances in which we are placed, both justify and lend it their 
countenance and support, men as enlightened as any of the 
Sages of the East; Divines as pious; as exemplary in all their 
lives; as good patterns of virtue and withal as eloquent as any 
who send us their aspirations this side Mason & Dixon's line, 
though they be wafied to heaven from the desks of the numer- 
ous theological seminaries that abound or from the pulpits of the 
many churches whose proud and lofty spires almost penetrate 
the clouds. But be it as it may, we knntv of no Imo either 
htivian or divine that enjoins upon one portion of the ccmmiinity 
the duty or assigns th(m the privdfge of affixing a standard 
whereby to weinh the morals of another, nor do we recognize any 
earthly tribunal with icmptteiit jurisdiction to sit in jvdgment 
upon our consciences ; to God and him alone are we responsible. 
Slavery being with us as I liave shown a Civil and Domestic 
Institution, guaranteed by the laws of the land in which we live 
and its duration under the absolute contiol and entirely dependent 
upon those among whom it exists, we do not lee! ourselves under 
any obligations to enter into a defence of our moral ripht, to 
satisfy the scruples of ail or any who may honestly or dishonestly 
choose to call it in qusetion with a view of sanctifying upon 



13 

that ground their claim of interference, nor should I have made 
any allusions to it in that light were it not the common cant of 
all who sing hosannas to the praise of abolitionism. 

The infinitely worse situation in which the slaves are and 
will be placed by the officious interference of the abolitionists 
next demands our attention. 

I have already noticed some of the means resorted to by them 
for the accomplishment of their purposes, and I am now con- 
strained, in order satisfactorily to account lor and justify such 
change, to advert to others less exceptionable however much 
J may regret the necessity that compels me. 

It will not I presume be disputed or denied that for some time 
past publicaiions of a very questionable character, interspersed 
with cuts intended to represent the treatment to which they 

would lead vuu to believe tlio olavc was exposed, have been 

poured into the south until it was filled almost to overflowing; 
and did nine tenths of those who lend their names and bestow 
their money, honestly believing they are encouraging a praise- 
worthy and charitable object, but know by so doing they are 
fast bringing about a state of things hitherto existing but in the 
fertile and inventive brains of those who gave it breath, they 
would at once refuse longer to aid a cause requiring such extra- 
neous circumstances to set it forth or assist in establishing for 
those who aim at notoriety such a fame as was earned by and 
awaited the wretch who fired tiie Ephcsian Temple. This 
matter and these accompaniments are circulated and receive a 
new stimulus by being impressed upon their minds by men 
secretly playing the ignoble parts of midnight assassins, who, 
if they are not the publicly accredited agents of some Northern 
Anti-Slavery society, at heart are encouraged by and receive the 
riglit hand of fellowsiiip from their most violent and influential 
members; to a great extent has ihe unhallowed work been 
carried of denouncing the master to the world in general and the 
slave in particular (whenever opportunity offered) in terms of 
unqualified and unmerited reprobation ; no eyjithet has been 
considered too vile to be applied ; no plans too base or too igno- 
minious to be recommended; by drawing largely upon their 
imaginations, they operate upon their feelings and artfully arous- 
ing all the baser passions of their nature, prepare them for the 
commission ofcrimes at which the soul revolts; murder; rapine; 
luxury and lust are associated with their ideas of Freedom and 
in the insurrections which have from time to time taken place, 
neither age ; sex nor condition has been spared. There is no- 
thing my hearers, even were slavery all its most bitter revilers 
have represented it, there is nothing I say can justily such out- 
rageous and to us such dangerous proceedings. Thotigh there 
are many such yet God (orbid I should accu.-e all Abolitionists of 
seeking "the attainment of their ends reckless of all consequences, 
or that I should for a moment believe them capable of knowingly 

B 



14 

and wilfully aidinf^ and abettinsj those modern Guy Hawkes who 
steal in among us, and rendering a certain portion of our already 
combustible population still fitter subjects for ignition, seize every 
favorable occasion lo apply the torch of wide spread havoc and 
dismay, neveiheless I should but illy discharge the duty I have 
imposed upon myself were I to withhold from them the fact, that 
every tear of commiseration they shed ; every burst of indigna- 
tion they display; every pecuniary assistance they afford to 
those whom, when detected in such acts we honor with our no- 
tice by a consignment to summary punishment, is in itself an 
approval of the course they liave pursued and serves as a stimu- 
lus to others to " go and do likewise." 

I am bold further to say my hearers ha^ not nature, (as I have 
before observed) in the coldness of the climate and the sterility 
of the soil, presented ot)stacIes to the employment of Slave la- 
bour to advantage in these States, far distant would have been 
the day when the discovery that it was a sin ; a violation of God's 
moral law and must be suppressed though a nation perish in the 
fall, would have been made ; 'till other times and other circum- 
stances should have created a revulsion in his favour, the 
Slave might have continued unpitied to hug his chains, aye, 
though a tenfold weight were added to them ; no cries of "jus- 
tice to that poor being, death to his oppressor," would yet have 
been heard from some of these visionary moralists; these lip- 
serving philanthropists; no blasphemous sentiment, "every 
Slave fiolder in the land deserves to have his throat cut," would 
yet have been admired or tolerated, nor v;ould its sacrilegious 
utterer have been fawned upon; flattered and caressed; no 
threats of "give us but money to carry on our operations and 
ere the seasons again change we will shake this Union to its 
very centre," would 3'et have been proclaimed in insulting defi- 
ance ; a portion of the press that should ever remain the sacred 
palladium ; the watchful sentinel ; the vigilant guardian of all our 
rights, would not yet have abused its liberty and sunk ilself into 
a vehicle of licentiousness lo aid the mad schemes of fanatical 
enthusiasts; incendiary publications in the shape of pamphlets; 
tracts and almanacs, bearing upon their pages every device the 
ingenuity of man could contrive to arouse; excite, and inflame 
the demoniac spirit of revenge, would not yet have been flooded 
upon us scattering the arrows of massacre ; of carnage ; of death 
and desolation in their train. With these tacts staring us in the 
face; still smarting under the infliction of these wounds, are we 
to be satisfied with the assurance that this is not Abolitionism? 
that these are not tlie principles it inculcates? with regard to 
abolitionism in theory, we may perhaps as we have tauntingly 
been told we are, be ignorant ; but with its practical effects 
painfully, most painfully have we been made acquainted ; the 
dire tragedy of Southampton is yet fresh upon our minds ; 
the shrieks of its barbarously butchered victims are yet ring- 



lb 



ing in our ears ; the blood of some of the purest ,' high-mind- 
ed ; honourable aye and most beautiful in our land has already 
been spilt upon its fanatical altar,and cries aloud from the sep- 
ulchres in which their mangled remains have been interred 
for its prostration. 

There is no odium that would not justly attach itself to us 
did we not put in requisition all the means in our power to 
guard against the repetition of such scenes and check their 
producing causes ; " self-preservation is the first law of 
nature ;" and in conformity to its dictates (lest opportunities 
should invite aggression) the chains that hung loosely and 
with almost unfelt weight upon the Slave have been tighten- 
ed ; his privilogoa havo boon ourtailod j his actions uairowly 

watched and every suspicious movement punished with the 
utmost severity. Should these means fail ; should this 
modern Juggernaut Car still be pushed forward, vision less 
keen than mme cannot but discern that those for whose ben- 
efit it was constructed will be the first victims crushed be- 
neath its ponderous wheels ; well may they exclaim in the 
language of one who severely suffered., " save me from my 
friends and I will take care of my enemies !" you are leading 
them into comparatively the same situation as was the poor 
Frenchman who was well, wanted to be better, took physic 
and died ; am I not therefore correct in saying the condition 
of the Slave will be nay is already worse than before mistaken 
philanthropy and bigoted delusion enlisted in his behalf? 
and is it not the height of wickedness as well as folly to per- 
sist in the prosecution of a project so fraught with injury to 
those most immediately interested ? 

In noticing the causes that have led and are leading to this 
change of condition, I have somewhat encroached upon the 
next point to be noticed, viz. the evils to which abolitionism 
in the non-Slaveholding states, or perhaps, more appropriate- 
ly speaking, Northern interference must of necessity give 
birth. Those who have never witnessed a negro insurrec- 
tion can form but an inadequate idea of its attendant hor^ 
rors ; heart rending as are the effects of battles between con- 
tending nations, or the yet more sanguinary warfare of do- 
mestic strife, they dwindle into insignificance when contrasted 
with the scenes to which I have so feebly ; so faintly and so 
imperfectly alluded ; but what pen can portray, what lan- 
guage can do them justice ? and yet there are many who for 
want of Jorethought are lending themselves to produce their 
more frequent repetition. To save our property from pillage; 



16 

our dwellings from conflagration ; our wives and our daugh- 
ters from insult and brutality and our throats from the knives 
of monsters inflamed with every unholy passion, we shall be 
compelled to stifle in our bosoms every consideration of hu- 
manity ; shut fast the door of hope forever against them and 
leave those who are driving us to this dire necessity bitterly 
to weep their folly and without one solitary good excuse to 
mourn over the happiness they have marred, the discontent 
they have originated ; the hostile feelings they are building 
up in the descendants of those who side by side shared the 
dangers of those perilous times " that tried men's souls," and 
whose safety from foreign aggression depends piincipally 
upon their mutual good will ana protection of each other ; to 
all these severe trials will they see us exposed ; these evils 
will Ihey bring upon our land who, refusing to listen to the 
voice of admonition wafted upon every breeze, still persist in 
meddling with that which concerns them not and all but to 
satisfy at best an overstrained construction of morality and to 
suppress some sickly qualms of conscience engendered by 
the workings of a distempered fancy. 

Well calculated as are the effects of the proceedings of the 
abolitionists, viewed in the lights in which I have already 
placed them before you, to distress the minds of those sub- 
jected t© their influence, and who had hitherto believed the 
rights of private property under this government to be not 
only secure but free from all attempts at invasion, doubly 
must that distress be increased both to them and all the re- 
flecting inhabitants of this wide spread Republic, when seri- 
ously considering some others to which it is nay purpose to 
refer. 

In proceeding to comment upon them I must acknowledge 
the danger of their being brought about has made upon me 
at least a deep and abiding impression, since I am compelled 
to contemplate and I fear me to witness at no very distant 
day the downfall of what I have been taught to prize above all 
earthly things. The kind providence of Heaven has indeed 
showered down blessings upon us with an unsparing hand ; 
favoured by its munificence with an extent of territory not 
exceeded by that of any other nation of the earth ; with a 
soil rich ; fertile and productive ; varied to supply all our 
wants ; a climate, healthy ; salubrious and invigorating ; a 
form of government the most perfect yet devised to promote 
the happiness of its people, acknowledging and upholding 
their religious as well as their civil rights ; granting no ex- 



17 

elusive privileges to one denomination of Christians and op- 
pressing another, but in matters concerning our spiritual 
welfare leaving us unshackled, and fiee to indulge the pleas- 
ure of worshipping our Creator according to the dictates of 
our own conscience ; united in one grand confederacy ; the 
polar star of our course, " ask nothing but what is right ; 
submit to nothing that is wrong,'' we have reached a summit 
of power ; of fame ; of prosperity but rarely attained and still 
less rarely preserved ; we are engaged moreover in practi- 
cally solving the great problem '• is man capable of self gov- 
ernment ?" the eyes of the world are upon us anxiously 
watching (he result ; throughout its vast confines its friends 
are fervently offering up their prayers for our success : such 
is our present situation and such is the noble part we are 
expected to continue to act in the great drama of life's pro- 
gress ; but are there not some, (s^adly misconceiving the 
characters allotted them,) committing the most fatal errors 
and by inquisitively prying into i nd meddling with the parts 
assigned to others, disturbing the arrangements of the plot 
which must harmonise in all its essentials, to render it effec- 
tual and create a lively interest in its representation ? Yes 
my friends, a speck is appearing in the hitherto clear firma- 
ment of our happy existence ; dark clouds are gathering 
around its horizon and with portentous aspect threatening to 
cover its whole expanse ; the waves of commotion are fast 
being lashed into fury by the unbridled tempest of unjustifia- 
ble interference ; the rumbling sounds of the approximating 
earthquake of dissention are beginning to be distinctly heard; 
moral proscription for difference of opinion in regard to mat- 
ters of conscience is again stalking forth from the den into 
which public sentiment had driven it; the yawning monster 
of separation is opening wide its ponderous jaws to receive, 
and stimulating its voracious appetite to devour, the noblest 
superstructure ever erected by the wisdom of man ; the 
banner of unanimity, the rallying point of all our hopes, that 
unfurled and spread its spotless folds to the gentle gales of 
Heaven is becoming soiled ; its stars fast losing the lustre 
that marked their former shining and its stripes perceptibly 
fading from our view. 

Laying aside ail metaphor and coming back to language 
plain to be understood and perhaps more fitting to the sub- 
ject, the daring and illegal attempts making by one Section 
of the Union to destroy the domestic Institutions of another, 

b2 



IS 

and rob it of its property and rights, and the settled determi- 
nation evinced and openly avowed by some of its most reck- 
less partisans, to push them still further, and (if necessary to 
their success) to employ more powerful but more dastardly 
measures than as a body they have hitherto thought it expe- 
dient to use, are doing more to destroy the felicity of the scene 
I have presented ; to extinguish the beacon light that has 
served to guide to our shores all, of whatever nation or clime 
who were seeking an asylum from misrule, and put an effec- 
tual damper upon the spirits of those who in other lands are 
striving to emulate our example, than all other causes com- 
bined ; every day's experience too, adds new proof to the 
fact I have before casually stated, that they are likewise 
bringing into action feelings thai augur unfavorably to the 
continuance of this Republic in a united state, and as the 
separation of even a single member from this confederacy, 
would go far to allay our respect for the general institutions 
of our country, and lessen the value of the inheritance 
bequeathed to us, well does it become those who are rapidly 
hurrying such a state of things to their final consummation, 
to pause in their career; commune with their own minds ; 
and calling reflection ar-d a sense of what is due to others as 
well as to themselves to their aid, ponder well upon the ques- 
tion whether they are not about to inflict evils infinitely 
greater than any which at present exist ; evils which as just ; 
as upright ; as conscientiously humane persons they could 
never cease to regret to the latest period of their existence. 

Supposing however that those who are aiming at the de- 
struction of an order of things almost as ancient as the world 
itself, could easily ; speedily and effectually accomplish their 
object without producing any of the sad consequences to 
which they are daily exposing us, let us examine for a 
^moment how far the proposed change is calculated to benefit 
those for whose especial good it is designed, and thus brmg 
to a test the correclness of my fourth and last position. ^ 

It may not be amiss in me to observe at this stage of my 
remarks, as I am about to give a description of Southern 
Slavery, that I have never owned ; do not now, nor have I a 
single relative who does, any of that species of property, nor 
have I in defending the South even a sectional feeling to 
gratify, having drawn my first breath, and spent the infant 
years of my life in a Northern, and for some time past anon- 
Slave holding State ; these circumstances, together with a 
residence of about twenty years among it, by enabling me to 



19 



see things as they really existed, render me a competent 
witness, and with the same sense of obligation to speak the 
truth I should feel, were I called under the solemnity of an 
oath to testify, I unhesitatingly aver, the amount of labour 
the Slaves are requned to perform, is by no means beyond 
their physical ability to accomplish, but would bear an advan- 
tageous comparison with that of any other class, whom neces- 
sity compels to fulfil to the letter or the spirit of the penalty 
inflicted upon fallen man ; " by the sweat of thy brow shall 
thou earn thy bread ;" though they partake not of many of 
the luxuries that pamper the apetites of the wealthy, yet are 
they amply supplied with all the necessaries of lifo ; though 
the broadcloths of Europe and the various costly garments 
that decorate the votaries of fashion are beyond their reach, 
yet are they found to be arrayed in articles of dress alike 
comfortable and substantial ; though their dwellings are not 
remarkable for their ornaments or the beauty of their archi- 
tectural style, yet in their erection and construction are health 
and convenience consulted ; though the sweet sounds of the 
Gospel reach not their ears from the lofty and splendid edifi- 
ces in which assemble the powerful and the proud, yet are 
they conveyed to them in no less sweeter strains from beneath 
the humble roofs of the thatched temples that modestly rear 
their unobtrusive heads. They too have their recreations ; 
their pastimes, and their holidays ; the exhilirating laugh ; 
the merry jest ; the jocund song ; the sound of the cheerful 
viol, to whose enlivening notes they wind through the giddy 
mazes of the dance, denote their absenece from all sorrow, 
and that the pleasures of life belong exclusively to no rank 
or station ; the reflection that want cannot afft ct them ; that 
in sickness the interest if not the duty of those whose property 
they are, will prompt a kind attention to their wants, and their 
confidence that their children, when they shall have passed 
from this " vale of tears," will meet the same protection, re- 
conciles them to their lot ; frees them from all care ; from all 
responsibility, and makes the hours they can call their own, 
hours of true happiness and enjoymeut ; this, combined with 
the superveillance exercised over them, removes many of 
the incentives to crime and departures from virtue, to which 
those possessed of greater freedom of action, are constantly 
exposed, and consequently tend to a more favorable growth 
of morality. 

All who have visited the South subsequent to the last few 
years, for the purpose of inquiring into, and satisfying them- 



20 

selves of the actual condition of its Slave population in gen- 
eral, instead of seeking out isolated cases on which to found 
a report, will concur in saying the picture I have presented is 
far from being overdrawn : that what I have advanced is but 
a plain ; unvarnished statement of facts, and it' that condition 
is altered for the worse, to the auihois, aiders, and abettors of 
a scheme that has rendered such an alteratif n necessary, as 
well as tor all other consequences, will an impartial world at- 
tach the blame. ^Nevertheless I w ill net altenipt to raise the 
character of human nature at the expense of truth by affirm- 
ing that there aie no exceptions to the treatment thus des- 
cribed ; strange indeeH would it hp, and an annnialy in man's 
actions were it not so : the world from its connnencement to 
the present day has borne witness to the abuses of power that 
have occasionally taken place in affairs legal ; political and 
ecclesiastical, nor has any age been exempt from those who, 
to use the language of the immortal Shakspeare, '• dressed in 
a little brief anthority, play such fantastic tricks before high 
Heaven, as make e'en angels weep :'' but all must see the 
manifest injustice of judging anv svstem, solely by the con- 
duct of a [e\v who have abused it. or issuing in one sweeping 
denunciation, a sentence of condemnation against a whole 
people, for the overt acts of a trifling proportion of them : 
were we to regulate our notions by this standard, where I 
would ask is the cause, or where the community that could 
bear the test of such rigid scrutiny^ religion itself, would 
sink into disrepute, and man become a blot upon creation. 

With this brief, but notihe less matter of fact description 
of the general treatment of the Slaves, it behooves me next 
to notice the actual condition of the free persons of colour. 
It is a matter of notoriety to all who have resided in, or even 
occasionally visited, any of the numerous cities that have 
sprung up on our seaboard, from one end of thii; vast conti- 
nent to the other, that in them are congregated a large num- 
ber of those last named, who have become so either by birth, 
purchase, or emancipation, and it is equally notorious that 
they form the very dregs of their population : that squalled 
poverty and abject misery are their accompaniments through 
lite: instead of seeking their living : promoting their com- 
forts ; advancing their interests, and elevating their charac- 
ters by a resort to honest industry, which would present argu- 
ments of weight and influence in behalf of those in bondage, 
they endeavour to effect them by engaging in the commission 
of every species of vice and crime that deck the black cata- 



21 

logue of human iniinnity. Associating wiih the base and 
degraded of our own colour, they dive deep into the vortex 
of sin and dissipation, and heavy are the burthens cast upon 
the shoulders of those among whom they have Cctst their lot ; 
nor is this state of things conlined alone to those cities or 
places where Slavery is not forbidden by law, but may be 
found equcdlv gloomv and frightful where it is prohibited. 

If these statements be true, and for fheir confirmation I 
boldly appeal to any whom personal observation has aobrded 
an opportunity of judging, where are the boasted benefits the 
Slaves are to derive from their emancipation ? what becomes 
of the blessed Heaven upon eanh. to which the abolitionists 
teed themselves writh (ha tancv ihat thev an; conducting them? 
Where are the bright prospects that are to usher in this new 
era in the condition of the African race this side the broad 
Atlantic, and where are the sunny fields round which they 
flattered themselves they were driving the fiery coursers ot 
their zeal ? Gone ; forever gone ; looking for them through 
the searching telescope of reason, they are no where to be 
seen : standing upon the adamantine heights of experience 
with our eves directed to the spots they were said to cover, 
nought can be discerned but the turbulent waters of the lake 
that has en^ulphed them. In other words, so lar from Lib- 
erty having proved either a temporal or a spiritual advantage 
to them it has been directly the reverse, and if such be the 
case with the tew who are now its participators, may we not 
inter such, or tar more deplorable, will be the case with the 
manv, should thev ever by any unfortunate concatenation of 
circumstances be suddenly let loose among us ! Were I to 
enter into a more elaborate disquisition of the why and the 
wherefore, I might adduce other facts aud arguments that 
would materially strengthen all my positions, but more par- 
ticularlv the last in order, viz. that pure philanthropy disclaims 
all interference in the matter, but having already drawn this 
address to a length that has, I fear, exhausted your patience 
as well as mv own strength, a few bnef remarks and I draw 
it to a close. 

During ray short but eventful journey through life, I have 
frequentiv had opportunities of witnessing the readiness with 
which that portion of the community, yclept, " Heaven's best 
gift to man," receive and credit all tales of horror and dis- 
tress ; to call their righteous feelings into action, or awaken 
their tender svmpathv, it is only necessary to invent some 
such one, bearing upon its tace the remotest shadow ol pos- 



sibility, and straight their indignation is aroused or the flood- 
gates of their hearts thrown open ; how often, during the 
perusal of some novel or romance, may be detected the 
burning flush of the former kindling on their brow, or the soft 
tears of the latter coursing in torrents down their silken 
cheeks ; beautiful characteristics as they are of nature's 
better part, I would not have the female bosom ever barred 
against their going out, but in their egress I would have them 
guarded with a watchful eye ; deceit is ever lurking to entrap, 
and folly to enlist them, in some mischievous, some unworthy 
cause ; to no subject perhaps will these observations better 
apply than to the one I have this evening been engaged in 
discussmg. 

Under the impression that they would (in part at least) 
accomplish their purpose, by beseiging the councils of the 
nation with petitions backed by numerous signatures, no 
efforts have been spared by the advocates of Anti- Slavery to 
secure that kind of assistance ; you have been told the Slaves 
of the South (for there are Northern Slaves though not of the 
same colour,) are a set of miserable ; naked ; houseless ; half 
starved wretches ; compelled to labour from the time the first 
rays of the sun light up the earth 'till the shades of night 
envelope it in darkness, and stripes inflicted without mercy ; 
you have been told in sickness they are left without the benefit 
of medical or the consolation of religious aid, to die as the 
beasts of the field ; their bones to rot upon the soil, and their 
flesh to become a prey to the fowls of the air. Weigh these 
statements thus made to prejudice your minds and excite 
your feelings, weigh them I say in the scales of common 
sense, " my life upon the issue," you will pronounce them 
not only deficient but destitute of even the semblance of truth. 
A species of property of so much service to us as is the Slave, 
even if all principle had abandoned us, idiots indeed must we 
be and blind to our own interest and safety, did we in health 
so treat him as to depreciate his value ; in sickness use no 
means to restore him to health, or in death leave him in a 
situation to expose us to danger and disease. 

These disgusting details ended, scurrility and vituperation 
begin ; villains ; murderers ; thieves ; menstealers are the 
chaste epithets with which we are dignified, nay, so far led 
astray by these fermenting workings of the imagination, they 
boldly seize upon the attributes belonging exclusively to the 
great Jehovah, and, in the plenitude of their teordy power, at 
uoce condemn and consign us to that dread abode of punish- 



ment and pain where the " worm dieth not and the fire Is not 
quenched." Such are the falsehoods ; such the misrepre- 
sentations agamst which we have to contend ; such are the 
calumnies ; such the abuse with which we are assailed, and 
this too by many professing themselves followers of the meek 
and }owly amb, and believers in that blessed doctrine that 
inculcates charity to all mankind ; but let them emanate from 
what lips they may, they are not the less falsehoods and cal- 
ummes, and back in their teeth I cast their foul aspersions. 

bpeak oi it as we may ; disguise it as we will ; dignify it 
with what appellation we please ; call it philanthropy ; mo- 
rality ; religion, there is unfortunately my friends a species of 
bigoted mtolerance springing up among u^ and diffusing a 
poison more baleful than that of the Upas tree ; it is the sa"me 
that centuries smce united all Christendom in one destructive 
league, and impelled its rulers, inflamed 4)y the fanatical 
counsels of Peter the Hermit, to lay waste the fair fields of 
Palestine ; to devastate the dominions of God's ancient 
peop e and attempt by fire and sword the conversion of the 
unbelieving Saracens ; it is the same that has at different 
periods of earth's history, given rise to some of the most 
sanguinary civil conflicts that ever disgraced the civilized 
world ; It IS the same that under the reigns of various Euro- 
pean Sovereigns, but particularly under those of England's 
virgin Queen ; her cruel sister and her tyrant father, brought 
to persecution ; the scaffold and the stake, some of the most 
Virtuous and talented of the age ; it is that which is now 
spreading its broad branches high above our heads and drop- 
pmg Its distillations into every avenue of our actions • it has 
seized upon our sanctuaries of worship and is penelrat'ing our 
halls of legislation; even our Courts of Justice are becominff 
mlected with it, nor are our don.estic altars escaping its 
venom ; it is that which is now engendering strife ; promo- 
tmg discord and laying the axe of extermination at the verv 
root of Jll rights, private ; public ; moral ; social and politf- 
cal ; ijlis that which is sapping the foundations, and plotting 
the o^rthrow of the pillars upon which rests the very temple 
ofoui/government; it is that which is now disturbing the 
peaceful happiness we have hitherto quietly enjoyed, and the 
bright prospects of the future opened to our view ; in vain 
have the pages of history been unfolded fbr our instruction • 
m vam have the lamps of experience been placed as lights to 
our feet, if instead of profiting by the errors they disclose, we 
rashly persist m them and encourage the growth of this highly 



24 



dangerous and much to be dreaded an enemy ; it is nourish- 
ing in our bosoms a viper that will one day sooner or later, 
inflict a wound wliich neither time nor skill can cure. 

Never upon any occasion, my hearers, have I so deeply 
regretted my want of ability, as I have done upon the present, 
but if the desultory observations I have made have the effect 
of inducing yoa' to examine into this subject for yourselves, 
and reflect upon^t in all its bearings, I shall have ample 
cause for rejoicing, since I cannot but persuade myself" ye 
will come out from among them ;" at all events I shall bear 
about me the consolation of knowing that I have, without fear, 
favour, or aflectioii, and witVi no dooirc or protjpect of reward, 
other than that \\^ich arises from an approving conscience, 
faithfully discharged a duty I^owed to my whole country, but 
more particularly that much abused portion of it I feel proud 
to claim as my ^rmanent home. 



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